Mike Munger's Reading List

The Pope Center's George Leef interviewed Michael Munger, Duke economist and 2008 Libertarian candidate for governor of North Carolina, on the stimulus package. Munger signed Cato's ads published in newspapers last week in which economists oppose the package. Part of the exchange:

Leef: Would you suggest the three best books for someone – President Obama, Governor Perdue, a soccer mom, a college student, Joe the Plumber or anyone else – to read for a good start on understanding economics?

Munger:
Todd Buchholz, New Ideas from Dead Economists
Paul Heyne, The Economic Way of Thinking
Burton Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street
And, the SINGLE best, ONE thing to read is: Leonard Read’s essay"I, Pencil."

More Comments:

Mark Brady -
2/8/2009

I'm really in two minds about Buchholz. Like the curate's egg, some parts are okay. Others are bad.

Second, readers should look for an early edition of Paul Heyne's The Economic Way of Thinking. Later editions have gotten more mainstream and lost some of the distinctive character of the original book.